After Death — Christina Rossetti

Christina Rossetti in this poem is referring to the value of life. She recalls the man she loved, filled with pity, gazing at her corpse and weeping. 

The curtains were half drawn, the floor was swept  And strewn with rushes, rosemary and may  Lay thick upon the bed on which I lay,  Where thro’ the lattice ivy-shadows crept. 

In those lines the author does not mention specifically the relation between her and the man. She only describes a floor and bed covered in rushes, and half-covered window, which represents death. The author in these lines is using verbs as swept, strewn and crept to illustrate the setting and to let people know where the scene is taking place. She is using verbs as pitied touch, ruffles, raise and leaned to refer to her man. 

  He leaned above me, thinking that I slept  and could not hear him; but I heard him say:  “Poor child, poor child”: and as he turned away  Came a deep silence, and I knew he wept.  He did not touch the shroud, or raise the fold  that hid my face, or take my hand in his,  or ruffle the smooth pillows for my head: 

In these lines 

Those lines express the pity her love felt for her, he only showed her affection because she was death. He was those kinds of men who always show love when their love is gone. Moreover, he did not even touch her or held her hands to show how bad he felt, his silence and his actions showed that he didn’t love her. . I think that the only feeling from him to her was pity. A real love will die in tears knowing his love is dead.

  He did not love me living but once dead  He pitied me; and very sweet it is  to know he still is warm tho’ I am cold. 

While she was alive he did not love her, but once she was death he showed pity for her and wanted to show her his love. His sentiments were warmer after her death than during her life. The line of “he still is warm tho’ I am cold. “It can be described in two ways. The first one is telling that while he is alive enjoying life she is in the cold of death. Another meaning is that the author is saying refers to the feelings of both characters he used the word warm as person that is still alive and can feel and cold as person who is dead without feelings. Sometimes people do not show love to those special people. on occasion people only love while they are alive and once they die they want to show affection to them.  People must show what they feel when they are alive because once they pass away they get intact; they don’t feel, see or hear. These lines have a great moral which is…. while people have that special person alive  they have to show affection and not take for granted anything. Life is like a light while is on we enjoy it once it turns off everything is gone and we cannot go back